Fleeing Suspect Fires on Officer, Then Is Fatally Shot, at an Uptown Subway Station

For more than 24 hours, New York police detectives searched for a man they believed had shot and critically wounded the 25-year-old daughter of his girlfriend in the far reaches of the Rockaways, in Queens.

On Tuesday, detectives caught up with the man, Michael McBride, 52, on the other side of the city as he walked along West 145th Street near his home in Upper Manhattan. As the detectives closed in, the police said, Mr. McBride, a paroled robber with a .22-caliber revolver, ran into the subway system, turned around, and began firing at the officers.

According to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Mr. McBride, who was about 10 feet from the officers, emptied his revolver, hitting Detective Kevin Herlihy, 47, a plainclothes member of the Police Department’s warrant section, in the left biceps.

The wounded suspect kept running and ascended one flight of stairs to the exit of the A, B, C and D station at 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Hamilton Heights. He collapsed on the landing, and was taken to Harlem Hospital Center, where he was declared dead, Mr. Kelly said.

Photo

Paramedics tended to the suspect in the police shooting on Tuesday.Credit
Steve Bartel for The New York Times

Officer Herlihy, a 17-year police veteran, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, where he was in stable condition on Tuesday night and being visited by his relatives.

“All indications are that he will be able to walk out of here probably tomorrow, and go home,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who joined Mr. Kelly and others in a news conference at the hospital.

Mr. Bloomberg said the wounded officer, who is married with three children, was “the kind of detective that you’d want out there protecting us.”

Mr. Kelly said Mr. McBride had an extensive history of arrests.

The police disclosed little about the shooting on Monday afternoon that left the daughter of Mr. McBride’s girlfriend in critical condition at North Shore University Hospital in Nassau County, from a single gunshot wound in her head. But Mr. Kelly said the shooting occurred as Mr. McBride entered the woman’s apartment at 320 Beach 100th Street and began arguing with her, possibly in the hallway.

Detectives were able to interview the victim, who identified Mr. McBride as her assailant, a law enforcement official said.

Photo

The subway station at West 145th Street.Credit
Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

“McBride became the subject of an intensive search as a result,” said Mr. Kelly.

At 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, four officers had Mr. McBride under surveillance as he walked on West 145th Street, toward St. Nicholas Avenue. At one point, Mr. Kelly said, it is believed that Mr. McBride thought he was being followed and entered the subway “to elude the police.” He went in at the southeast corner and crossed toward the northwest exit.

The shooting occurred in an area that was fairly remote, Mr. Kelly said.

Kyron Arnold 25, from Flatbush, Brooklyn, was headed into the subway at 145th Street when three or four police officers rushed by him with pistols. They were in plain clothes, Mr. Arnold said. He was behind them, but he clearly saw them walking on the platform.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Then, he heard shots that seemed to be coming toward the officers. He said he then saw muzzle flashes from an officer’s gun.

“I saw sparks,” he said. “Then I ran back up the steps.” He said he also saw one officer struggling up the steps, saying, “I got shot.” Other officers immediately came to his aid.

In the news conference, Mr. Kelly alluded to the Feb. 2 shooting of Officer Kevin Brennan, who was shot in the head but was spared serious injury. “Fortunately,” the commissioner said, “we have another miraculous outcome today with an officer shot at close range — just 10 feet away.

“He not only survived but was able to stop his assailant from shooting anyone else.”

Daniel Krieger and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on February 15, 2012, on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Fleeing Suspect Fires On Officer, Then Is Fatally Shot, at an Uptown Subway Station. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe